Urbana council approves extra bike-trail inspection payment, switches health plan and confirms CRA appointees

The Urbana City Council on Feb. 3 authorized a $7,027 additional purchase order for inspection services on the CHP-Urbana Bike Trail and approved switching the citys employee health insurance carrier to United Health Care, measures city officials said would control costs while completing ongoing projects.

Council authorized the additional inspection payment to True Inspection Services, LLC after City Engineer Tyler Bumbalough said electrical delays lengthened the inspection period. The $7,027 local share increases the projects inspection cost to $90,399.12 from an original purchase order of $83,372.12; the original PO had been funded by various grants ($68,621.10) and a local share of $14,751.02. The council approved the additional PO by roll-call vote: Mr. Davis, Mr. Thackery, Mrs. Collier and Mrs. Bean voted yes; Mr. Scott, Ms. Truelove and Ms. Jumper voted no (4-3), and the item moved forward.

Director of Finance Matt Wellbaum told Council that the citys broker presented two main options for health coverage: remain with Anthem for a projected 5% premium decrease (about $96,215 saved) or switch to United Health Care for an estimated 16.7% decrease (about $322,055 saved). Wellbaum said the Board of Control supported switching carriers to capture the larger savings; the roll-call record lists Mr. Scott as the lone recorded "no" vote and other members as "yes." (The transcript also contains a summary line that states "BOC #2 passes 7-0," which conflicts with the detailed roll-call list; the councils roll-call entries are reported here as recorded.) The finance director said overall annual health-insurance expense is estimated at $1,602,216; dental coverage through Delta Dental showed an estimated 3% increase (~$2,300).

On a separate, unanimous vote, Council approved Resolution 2655-26, reappointing Neil D. Evans and R. Paul Waldsmith to the City of Urbanas Community Reinvestment Area Housing Council; Spencer Mitchell, director of administration, said the council-appointed body meets annually.

The meeting opened with a procedural voice vote to approve the Jan. 20 minutes, and the session closed without additional action on the bike-trail or insurance items beyond authorization. Council did not set an implementation date in the discussion recorded at the meeting for the insurer change; staff and the Board of Control will carry out contracting and administrative steps to implement the change.